With open evening on the horizon this week my aim is to create displays for my classroom.

1// Interactive Progress Displays

Not only do I want the pupils to know how to progress through learning ladders, I want them to be able to see their progress. Now there maybe some debate over whether or not we should share pupils progress with the rest of the class, so I will take a vote with each class on whether they want to be included. I imagine most pupils will enjoy a bit of competition, particularly the boys.  

The original idea for Progress Pegs is from https://twitter.com/PeFoulger

Now  I first saw  this idea of Progress Pegs from Agility – The Teaching Toolkit who shared this from PeFoulger. I liked the simple presentation of this display which allows for several classes.

Whilst I also like this idea of a Learning Ladder to climb I don’t feel it would be possible to clearly see each pupil from the 6 KS3 classes I teach, I will probably keep this kind of display to just the 4 GCSE classes I teach using GCSE grades instead.

 

2// Learning Ladders

Now previously my learning ladders were much smaller, it was simply  6 sheets with the basic  criteria for each level. However my current school requires more detail on what pupils need to be able to do to reach each level. In Humanities I have found this difficult, as sometimes it’s not what they know but how they apply it, describe it, explain it, evaluate it… For example I’d still expect a level 3 to explain something, but the explanation will not be as coherent as a level 4 answer or as in depth as a level 6.

Since my school have decided not to change from levels just yet I am sticking with typical level ladders. This is what I have created so far. Since I teach Humanities trying to cover aspects of both Geography and History Assessment Objectives was troublesome but I managed to break it down into 3 Geography based and 3 History based with an additional 2 in relation to Skills and Enquiry and Organisation and Communication.

I plan to get the pupils to refer to this on a regular basis to set their own targets for improvement.

3// Humanities in the News

My final and favourite display will be my Humanities in the News display. I have handed this over to a number of keen pupils to take the reigns and decide what they determine as Humanities in the News. The only part of this I will be deciding is the lovely cloud scene backing paper. The rest is up to them. They were set a mission to find news stories and articles last week to start the display off and they will be left to up-date it on a regular basis. I’m really looking forward to seeing what they come up. Once it’s up and running I will take a snapshot of it.

 

Do you have any other ideas to help me on my displays quest?

I look forward to your suggestions